Fantasy Premier League: 5 must-have players for Double Gameweek 34

Oh, yes! The first double gameweek of the season is here, which bombards fantasy managers with questions and doubts regarding the perfect strategy to adopt.

Double gameweeks are the perfect opportunity to gain ground over your rivals, especially in mini-leagues as certain teams play twice within the space of a week.

Bench Boost and Triple Captain chips are critical in double gameweeks and those managers who have both available have a huge advantage over others. It makes sense to use either of those two chips this week as gameweek 37 is another double gameweek as well.

Eight teams play twice this week and managers should load up on their players as they can get you maximum points. The teams playing twice are: Manchester United, Tottenham, Chelsea, Leicester, Brighton, Southampton, Bournemouth and Burnley.

We look at 5 players that are simply indispensable heading into the double gameweek:

#5 Romelu Lukaku (Manchester United)

Luk no further!

Manchester United have perhaps the two easiest fixtures of all the teams as they face West Brom and Bournemouth. They are extremely high on confidence at the moment, having beaten City at the Etihad and will be looking to wreak havoc this week.

Their attack has improved of late which brings Romelu Lukaku back into the picture. The striker has amassed 34 points in his last 5 outings and is in red-hot form at the moment. Also, West Brom have not kept a clean sheet in their last 10 games and Bournemouth have just one in their last 20 games!

Furthermore, he has been selected by 29.6% of the managers, which implies that if he scores big and you don't have him in your team, your overall ranking will fall drastically. He is also the least likely player to be rotated among the United attackers and can turn out to be a good captain choice as well.

#4 Harry Kane (Tottenham)

Kane is back!

The race for the Premier League Golden Boot is heating up and Tottenham's successful appeal to overturn Eriksen's goal in Kane's favour means only one thing: he is on course to catch Mo Salah and win the Golden Boot for the third consecutive season.

Spurs head into the double gameweek in high spirits as they have a 10 point lead over Chelsea. They first welcome Manchester City to Wembley before travelling to Brighton midweek.

Prior to his injury, Kane had scored 21 points in 4 games and will want to catch Salah at any cost. City are coming off the back of three consecutive losses and their morale will be very low; something Spurs will look to exploit.

Furthermore, City will miss key man Fernandinho through suspension. As for Brighton, their last clean sheet came 12 weeks ago at Newcastle and Spurs will be looking to seal the top-4 race by the end of the week. Kane can turn out to be a great choice for captain as well.

#3 Mohamed Salah (Liverpool)

How can we forget him?

Yes, he plays only once this week but that is absolutely no reason why we should neglect the league's leading scorer. It is worth noting that Salah amassed a gigantic 29 point haul in their last home game against Watford. Liverpool now welcome Bournemouth to Anfield which is an extremely tasty fixture.

With 29 goals and 11 assists to his name, Salah is on course for a record points-tally in FPL. He has single-handedly raised Liverpool to another level and the Egyptian will look to break more records before the end of the season.

The Egyptian has been sold by over 70,000 managers ahead of the gameweek and many may regret the decision to do so as he has the capacity to score more in one match than many of his counterparts in two matches.

As mentioned earlier, Bournemouth have kept just one clean sheet in their last 20 games which further underlines the importance of having Salah in the team.

#2 Jamie Vardy (Leicester City)

The secret to scoring big?

While the likes of Salah, Kane and Lukaku are grabbing the headlines, there is a player slowly finding his form as we head towards the conclusion of the season. Jamie Vardy has scored a goal each in his last three games and taken his tally to 16 goals this season.

The Leicester forward, owned by 24.7% of the managers, has caught our attention and is the fourth-highest transferred in player this week. Leicester play Burnley and Southampton in gameweek 34, and you can just sense that there will be goals in both the games.

Despite their defensive solidity this season, Burnley have kept just one clean sheet in their last 11 games while Southampton are fighting relegation this season and have been on a downward spiral since the turn of the year.

Leicester always finish the season in style and it is about time that Vardy scores big and rewards his owners.

#1 David de Gea (Manchester United)

The best?

It's a shame that de Gea has never won the Premier League Golden Glove considering the fact that he has been winning points, and games, for his side on his own in the recent past.

However, this season he is leading the race for the accolade and we can expect Manchester United to keep clean sheets against West Brom and Bournemouth.

Manchester United are the only team in Europe not to have conceded more than 2 goals in a game this season, and we don't expect that run to break this week.

While the defenders in front of him - the likes of Chris Smalling, Eric Bailly and Phil Jones are almost certain to be rotated over the two games, de Gea will be the first name on the team sheet unless perhaps, someone steals his boots!

A possible 12-point-haul or more awaits the Spaniard who is owned by a whopping 44.8% of managers, making him an absolute necessity for gameweek 34.